Jaitley has taken revenge from Punjab for his defeat: Bajwa

Chandigarh: Describing the budget as totally disappointing, the Punjab Congress President, Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa, today said the Union Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, seemed to have avenged his defeat from Amritsar by ignoring this border state. He observed that the day was not far when the Chief Minister, Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, would start recalling the contributions made by the then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, to this state. Reacting strongly to the way Mr. Jaitley had ignored Punjab, the PPCC chief pointed out that none of the pressing problems including mounting debt burden and capital flight to the neighbouring states had been addressed in this budget. These were the major concerns which the Akali Dal-BJP government had taken up with the new regime. Even the Panjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, which had pioneered the green revolution in the country, had not been included for grants. He recalled it was Dr. Manmohan Singh whose government had allocated Rs. 100 crore to this university.
He said the Union Finance Minister talked of green revolution in his budget speech but without going into specifics or mentioning the name of Punjab whose contribution to the food security of the country had been the highest. The farm sector in the state had been in deep crisis and the Akali Dal had been showing the mirage to the people that much of the problems confronting this state would be resolved with the change of regime at the centre. However, Mr. Badal forgot that mirage could not be translated into reality and he had only been misleading the gullible people. He recalled that after his anointment as the prime ministerial candidate, Mr. Narendra Modi had started his campaign from Pathankot in Punjab. However, today’s budget had made it clear that there was nothing in store of this government for Punjab. He said the only new project allocated to this state was the IIM and it was part of the routine exercise as the UPA government had given several such projects to this state, despite here being a non-Congress government . Despite that, Mr. badal had been raising the bogey of discrimination by the centre. He would realise the meaning of discrimination only now. “It was the earlier NDA government which caused a lot of damage to Punjab by announcing industrial concessions for the neighbouring states. The present regime continues with the same policy. Mr. Badal owes an answer to the people for misleading them over the years”, he said. The PPCC chief said the state had been meted out this discrimination by the NDA government despite the fact that a powerful member of the Badal family, Mrs. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, was part of the Union cabinet but now it was clear that she had no say and was not in a position to get anything done for the state. But then for the Badal family, it is the personal interests which had always matter more rather than the problems of the people, he added.